Outside, the rain thickened into a steady sheet. Inside, Ryoko’s apartment was a map of defeated missions: screenshots saved to the memory stick, a scribbled list of strategies stuck under the PSP’s battery flap. She remembered the first time she’d downed a Colossal Titan in a multiplayer skirmish—teammates who’d been strangers moments before erupting into throaty cheers through a cracked headset. Online play on the PSP was ragged and jittery, but it had character—a guild of improvisers who learned to trust each other’s tiny plays. Teams formed around habits and nicknames: “Blade” who never missed a neck, “Tether” who threaded impossible lines, “Anchor” who held the supply lines against tide after tide.